Shen Qianshan was standing in front of Su Shuangning’s yard, many soldiers behind him. His white coat looked very conspicuous in the night.

Seeing the way blocked, Su Shuangning stood aggressively on the high stage behind the gate, with a condescending look in her eyes.

“Why are you taking so many people here instead of preparing for the wedding? Are you mad?” It seemed Su Shuangning had given up sustaining her phony innocent image in public. If Shen Qianshan had known her true colors, there was no point in keeping the disguise.

Shen Qianshan gave her a cold glance and waved his hand. Without any hesitation, Su Ge and Jin Ye rushed to the gate which seemed to be very strong, dozens of men followed them.

Su Shuangning had never expected that Shen Qianshan would go as far as this.

Standing highly there, she felt so cold all over her body in the wind, watching the gate finally fall after being struck so many times.

This was the first time she felt this since she was born, a sense of helplessness.

At the moment when everyone was rushing through the entrance, Su Shuangning finally sensed the coldness that arose from her heart. Shen Qianshan didn’t like her, despite that her father was Master Su and her family had so much power. Even though everything proved to be at Shen Qianshan’s disadvantage, he still chose to go against her, which meant to declare war on Master Su.

As a matter of fact, she didn’t like to see her father fighting against the man she fancied, even though she didn’t know whether she truly adored Shen Qianshan or not.

Men dressing in white kept pouring in. Although her maids had all been well-trained, they were in no way a match for the fierce soldiers, who didn’t show any mercy even when they were confronting girls, trained by Shen Qianshan day and night.

Soon, Su Shuangning’s maids all fell flat on the ground, groaning in pain. They all failed.

Shen Qianshan stood in front of Su Shuangning, his face remaining still as if he was determined to win this war.

“You win,” said Su Shuangning with a faint smile, which made her face very ugly. Even though she was a gorgeous lady, she couldn’t help controlling it this time.

“You made me. You knew that you are never important to me,” said Shen Qianshan after a nod.

She was not important? How could she not know?

Since she was a child, the thing she had longed for the most was to wait for her consort aunt to return home so that she could see her beloved Brother Shen.

Su Family dwelled in the south of Yangtze River, a place known for pretty girls. People had never stopped complimenting Su Shuangning on her good looks, saying she had become prettier as she grew up, which she hoped would be noticed by her Brother Shen as well.

But every time when Shen Qianshan visited, he just sealed himself up in his room, reading books or practicing sword. At the age of twelve when she finally plucked up the courage, she walked toward Shen Qianshan, and asked him in a hopeful voice, “Brother Shen, do you find me prettier than before?”

She could never forget Shen Qianshan’s response that day. He raised his eyes, put his books back on to the table, and asked her back after a careful survey, “Who are you?”

He even didn’t remember her name. The huge disappointment it caused was something she could never take in.

Clearly, after all these years, Shen Qianshan didn’t change at all. She thought he would never cast his eyes upon women his whole life, but Gu Qiang became an exception. Now she would like to see how far he would go for this Infanta.

“I am giving you a chance!” shouted Su Shuangning, which made everyone around look at her.

Jin Ye and Su Ge frowned. Although Jin Ye preferred Gu Qiang to be his hostess, they were still shocked. Because Su Shuangning had always struck them as a noble lady, not a woman who would forget herself.

After that, tears quickly poured out of Su Shuangning’s eyes. It seemed to be an instruction, as the maid by her side instantly raised her hand and released a signal into the sky, which was lit up by a lotus-shaped firework.

Shen Qianshan looked up. The firework was beautiful, and it brought out the beauty of his face even more. He was no doubt a good-looking young man and was covered in a sense of melancholy at his age and was more mature than he should be.

He knew this signal, it was the signal of the Su Family.

Even though the Su Family were southerners, they acquired a monopoly of many businesses in the capital. Shen Qianshan had learned these from his early investigation.

Su Shuangning wiped her tears. “I’ve let out the signal. Soon, my father’s army will be here. Xiaoyao Mountain and your royal family will pay for this!” said Su Shuangning in a loud voice.

Shen Qianshan knew what she meant. She was the only daughter of Master Su, the apple of his eyes. If she asked for stars, Master Su would even get her the moon in the same package.

Master Su had made a narrow escape from the big fire that burned down his mansion. After that, he sent his girl Su Shuangning to Xiaoyao Mountain governed by Shen Qianshan.

Shen Qianshan knew perfectly well why Master Su had done this, trusting his daughter to a man who didn’t fancy her at all. He had been attempting to make them married for a long time.

Su Mo, Shen Qianshan’s mother, was Master Su’s biological sister. It was the Su Family’s great fortune and power that enabled her to marry into the royal family as a consort, for which Master Su kept thinking he should take all the credits. Now that Shen Qianshan had found his feet in the capital, marrying Shen Shuangning to him was no doubt the wisest choice.

What a perfect plan! Shen Qianshan had no reason to object to it.

Although the Su Family had taken a hard financial hit due to the fire, the cause of which remained unknown, it didn’t take them long to build up another grand palace.

Hadn’t Master Su sent Su Shuangning here, or hadn’t Su Shuangning been as obstinate and willful as she was, the Su Family would last longer.

But now…

Shen Qianshan opened his mouth, his voice was slow and plain. “You know that your family has committed a tax evasion of one hundred thousand liang’s silver. I have presented the evidence to His Majesty, and he might have ordered a raid in your family by now.”

Su Shuangning’s eyes were wide open, she thought she might have misheard something.

Tax evasion was a secret in her family beyond any outsider’s knowledge. How could Shen Qianshan find it out? And even with evidence?

Although no one could challenge its status in the south, the Su Family had kept a low profile. But the royal family would never allow any family that threatened its position to exist, and the Su Family wouldn’t be an exception.

The royal family might have been preparing for this for a long time.

“How shameless you are, Shen Qianshan! Don’t you forget that it was my father who made your mother the consort! Your family is all ungrateful!” yelled Su Shuangning without conscience. Having been learning martial arts since a very young age, she drew out a maid’s sword and stuck Shen Qianshan.

But Shen Qianshan didn’t dodge as she had expected. He took the stab with his body.

Everything around seemed to be fading away.

People nearby were all shocked. Shen Qianshan was a skilled martial artist. He could have avoided the attack, but he didn’t.

He fell stiffly onto the ground. Su Shuangning’s hands were shivering, her sword dropped. She covered her mouth with her hands and stepped back. Finally, a few words came out through her trembling lips, “Are you okay?”

He was not okay at all.

The wound was bleeding, with his pale and painful face. Jin Ye and Su Ge rushed to carry him up and started to inject their Qi into his body.

Amid the chaos, some officers rushed through the gate. They were the guards of the royal family, and Su Shuangning was taken down and tied up before she knew it.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Brother Shen. If you had remembered my name in the very beginning…” Her voices gradually faded away in the howling wind, which was so strong that the withered trees were all roaring.

Shen Qianshan’s men also disappeared in the night. Although they had captured Su Shuangning, there were more important tasks ahead.

Gu Qiang remained hidden. Those people were here after seeing Gusu Liang’s signal, but somehow the path was blocked by Su Shuangning.

They made their way to a concealed cave down the back of Xiaoyao Mountain, and after a rough clean-up of the weeds at the entrance, Gusu Liang walked in.

There was water dripping from the roof of the cave, and moss and insects on the wall. It was very damp inside.

Walking behind Gusu Liang, Gu Qiang couldn’t help looking back at the mountain top behind her.

There was a bunch of noises, and then everything suddenly went quiet, like a dream. Fortunately, no one followed them down. Gusu Liang’s signal might have worked.

They walked and walked. There were oil lamps on the wall, the dim light of which seemed to be extinguished at any time in the dark and damp environment of the cave.

Might have been alerted by them, someone deep in the cave made a move. They could hear heavy chains clattering, the sound of which kept echoing inside.

“Master? Master, is that you?” It was a stranger’s voice. But something flashed in Gu Qiang’s head.

It seemed that deep in her memory, she remembered that something had happened between her and the master of this voice.

The sound of the chains got louder as they drew nearer. Finally, at the end of the cave, they saw a woman cloaked in black, her hair awry, and her limbs all bound by chains. She looked up at them, full of expectancy in her eyes.

However, the moment she saw Gu Qiang, she fell into mania as if she was suffering an electric shock. “Why it’s you! Why are you here! What are you here for?” she shouted with her eyes fixed upon Gu Qiang.

Clearly, she had lost control of herself. It seemed that she had hoped many people to show up, but Gu Qiang was never one of them.